Poland and the US signed a $34 million deal to modernize the Polish Navy's ORP Gen. K. Pulaski guided missile frigate. (konflikty.pl / via Wikipedia)

WARSAW — The Polish Ministry of Defense has signed a contract with the US government to modernize the Polish Navy’s Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate, ORP Gen. Kazimierz Pulaski. The deal is worth about US $34 million, the ministry’s Armament Inspectorate said in a statement.

“[The overhaul] will allow to extend the frigate’s operational capacity by at least 2025,” the statement said.

The latest contract is part of the Polish military’s efforts to provide additional security to the country’s Baltic Sea coast.

The US government, which transferred the vessel to the Polish Ministry of Defense in March 2000, is to deliver the overhauled frigate to Poland by 2016, according to the ministry.

Under the plan, some of the modernization work will be performed by Poland-based maritime defense companies. The vessel’s combat, radio location, reconnaissance, and sensor and processing systems are to be overhauled, as well as its propulsion, reported the Army’s official publication, Polska Zbrojna.

Prior to 2000, the frigate served in the US Navy as USS Clark. The vessel was transferred to Poland along with a second Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate, currently serving in the Polish Navy, as ORP Gen. Tadeusz Kosciuszko.